Genomics Ltd inked a partnership deal with fellow U.K.-based biotech Greywolf Therapeutics to organize and evaluate ERAP enzymes and how they influence autoimmune disease risks.
The pact calls for Genomics to curate and analyze large-scale genetic datasets of variants of endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases (ERAP1 and ERAP2), which are key cellular proteins involved in the processing and presentation of antigens that are, in turn, short segments of a protein, derived from the body’s own cells or foreign material.
Genetic variations in ERAPs can alter this process and result in autoimmunity through the activation of T cells that can trigger an immune response in healthy tissue, the company said in an April 29 press release.
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Autoimmune diseases affect about 1 in 10 people, with the number of patients expected to increase over time and include conditions such as type 1 diabetes and psoriatic arthritis.
Financial terms of the collaboration weren’t disclosed.
“We believe our novel targets hold great promise for treating a number of autoimmune conditions, and our Phase 1 study in axial spondyloarthritis is just the start of delivering on that potential,” Peter Joyce, co-founder and CEO of Greywolf, said in a statement. “Understanding the genetic drivers of these diseases is crucial to assessing which patient populations to initially focus on.”
Greywolf, which was formed in 2017 with $14 million in series A funding backed by Andera Partners and Canaan, and is focused on making tumors more visible to the immune system by modulating enzymes their cells use to display antigens.
The ERAP1 and ERAP2 enzymes cut peptides to length, ready for binding to the MHC class I complex, allowing the immune system to determine whether a cell is an invader to be attacked or a normal part of the body that should be ignored.
